Archive for August, 2009

Teach Your Kids to Be Environmentally Responsible

The “greening of America” has become chic these days, and evidence of this consists in the types of commercials we see on television.  Television commercials usually have a similar cast of characters.  For those with a family setting, there is invariably a cute, precocious, know-it-all kid, a mother who likes to shop, shop, shop, and a father who isn’t too bright.  Occasionally mother isn’t too bright either, but the kid always is.  “Kids know best,” seems to be the subliminal message being sent here. Environmental commercials are no different.  I recently saw one of Mastercard’s commercials.  To paraphrase their end line, “Son teaching parents about the value of the environment, priceless.” I just wanted to throw something at the TV. In real life, it is the job of the parents to teach their kids how to be environmentally responsible, not the other way around. And there are a lot of materials provided for parents to enable them to both learn about how to protect the environment, and teach that philosophy to their children. Perhaps the most basic piece of philosophy to impart is, “Don’t litter.”  Indeed, it seems like very few children, especially boys, are taught to make the effort to cross their rooms to ...

Why Buy New?

When I was a kid, my favorite books were a series of mystery novels, featuring Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators.  The three investigators were teenagers who went around solving mysteries.  The brain of the trio was Jupiter Jones, who was lucky enough to live in a salvage yard, surrounded by acres and acres of cool stuff.  The boys made money for their detective business by repairing and renovating the junk that was sold or given to the salvage yard.  I thought that that was a cool thing to do, and I’ve been a fan of visiting salvage yards (to give them a more dignified name) ever since. When it comes time to refurbishing your apartment, or furnishing a new home, why spend thousands of dollars on new furniture when you can spend much less money, and save a few trees, by going to a salvage yard and choosing what you need? Oh, the furniture may be more than a little beat up, but chances are that you can repair it with a few tools, and if you’ve got any talent in the arena at all, you could probably even make the item look better than the original!  If you don’t have ...

Have a Greener House Move

Moving is always a messy process.  You discover things you had forgotten about and it is always likely that you will uncover a load of junk that you no longer want or need.  In addition, there are all the moving materials that you will use during the move and then be ready to throw away when you are done.  Moving can produce an amazing amount of trash.  So, how do you make your move a little greener?  There are many things you can do to have a greener house move.  You just have to get organized, focused and be willing to take a little time to keep things green. Disposing of the Junk The first step in moving is packing.  This means dragging everything out of closets and storage spaces.  Instead of simply packing it all away or just tossing it, take time to go through it.  See what items you want and what you can get rid of. Instead of throwing things away think about whether they are still useful.  They may not be useful to you, but someone could use them.  Go donate ...

Going Green Fishing

As with most human needs, the hunger for more and more fish on the table appears unquenchable.  Rivers, lakes and seas, however, are suffering from the onslaught.  Fortunately, you can do something about it by going green while you fish. Take Only What You Need In olden days, man only caught fish to sustain them in the months and days when it was scarce.  With their natural wisdom, they only took what they needed to survive - no more, no less - in the enlightened belief that they need to take care of nature so that nature may take care of them, too. Look back into this enlightened belief whenever you feel the need to fish more than you need to satisfy your physical hunger and mental appetite.  If you find yourself catching more fish than necessary, throw the excess back into the lake so that it can be eaten by other fishes.  And so the cycle of life is protected. Use Fish-Friendly and Eco-Friendly Materials The use of fish-friendly fishing materials may sound paradoxical.  After all, you go fishing to kill the fish!  However, look at it from another ...

Why Use Paper When You Can Use Cloth?

I love barbecue ribs, and when you eat barbecue ribs the right way, with your fingers it can get pretty messy.  Of course since barbecue sauce is finger licking good you can remove much of the residue yourself, but eventually you’re going to have to clean off that final sticky residue. What’s the best way to do it? Most people use their napkins or paper towels to clean off their fingers, and face, and then toss the paper into the garbage. A better solution is to use damp washcloths instead.  Damp washcloths can be used throughout the meal to clean off your fingers, and when you’re done, just toss them into the washing machine to be washed the next time you do a load of clothes. In addition, don’t use paper towels to wipe up small spills of liquids, or to wipe your hands, and so on.  Instead, keep some cloths handy.  Dampen them, clean up what needs to be cleaned up, and then place them on a rack so they can dry and be used again. Paper towels are often created from recyclable material themselves, so they can’t be recycled again, in particular because they may contain bacteria.  Some people recycle them as mulch, ...